The report reveals that the publication and OpenAI have been in talks over a licensing deal. The New York Times wants OpenAI to pay for all the content — news stories, articles — that the AI firm uses for its tools like ChatGPT. However, the negotiations have reportedly gone sour and, as per NPR, the publication is looking at a potential lawsuit. The newspaper is keen to protect all the intellectual property rights that come with the reportage done for news stories.
Why the matter may end up in court
According to the report, senior executives at the publication believe ChatGPT is emerging as a competitor based on writings that appeared in the paper. ChatGPT can create text and answer questions based on information that may have appeared in the publication. AI tools like ChatGPT can cite sources but also rephrase the original text that was carried out in the publication first. The worry, for NYT, here is that a lot of users may not end up visiting its own website.
There are laws against copyright issues when it comes to artificial intelligence tools. The report indicates that if the case does end up in court and OpenAI is found guilty of the violation of copyrights, then the law does suggest all the articles/text needs to be removed.
Getty Images has already filed a copyright case against Stability AI for using millions of images without authorisation. If the licensing deal between OpenAI and the publication falls through, it could have massive implications on how AI tools generate content.